Finally, after unavoidable delays, I was able to get to back to the UK, go down to Bridgwater and collect my long awaited new Raven. Then having completed all the formalities, such as paying for it, I set out on its inaugural tour. Along the North Devon coast, beautiful but hilly, into North Cornwall, beautiful though not so hilly, and then looping down the Torridge valley, along the edge of Dartmoor, to Plymouth.
From the first, I was really pleased with the bike. It seemed to handle just as well laden as unladen, coped with some pretty rough tracks, and appeared to bowl along quite fast at times. After the rather knackered derailleurs on my old bike, the ease and speed of changing the Rohloff was wonderful. As was its quietness in most gears.
From Plymouth, a quick journey in a hire car took us to Gatwick, where we flew back to Turkey courtesy of Easyjet. That was the first time I'd flown with a bike, and was quite worried about it, but I found the EasyJet check-in staff very helpful, and they certainly de-stressed the check-in process.
